Nativity in a gourd !

Friday, 30 December 2016

Nativity in a gourd !

This is a Kenyan nativity scene, with wire and banana fibre figures all enclosed in a gourd. Very ingenious. We have put it in our HATW office as part of our Christmas display, where it has attracted a lot of interest.

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"I speak of Africa and golden joys ..."

This blog is mainly to do with Africa, specifically Kenya, but a pilgrimage two years ago to the Holy Land prompted me to use my blog as a way of recording and telling my friends who read the Africa blog, about my time in Israel. And the Covid-19 pandemic has featured recently

*** I started writing this blog in 2010, and since then it has evolved, changed, become more diverse. Its original aim was to talk about 'the HATW project' in Kisumu .... but more about things connected to Kenya and Africa that interest me. PALUOC (the HATW project) was my official interest, but there's a whole LOT more to my 50 year love of Africa than that ! READ ON >>>>>

* I was accepted to initially do a months voluntary work (in February, 2011), with the charity 'Hands Around The World' in Nyanza Province, Kenya, in the city of Kisumu, near where I once lived. HATW works in several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to help disadvantaged children, many of whom are HIV/AIDS orphans or who live on the streets.

When I returned, I carried on voluntarily working for the charity in their office, (only a short distance from home) and then went back to Kenya several times to re-visit our project and Kenyan friends in a sort of working holiday.

I went back to Kenya in 2013 with a local friend who has also joined HATW. So exciting ! And again in late 2014, I went back ! Kisumu definitely has a hold over me. Once again, I went in early 2016 .... and yes, I went again in 2017 !! Perhaps just once more ..... in September 2018, on the 50th year anniversary of when I first set foot in Kenya ?? (Sadly, that wasn't to be)

* Why 'Luo Laughter' ? The local people around the Kisumu area of Kenya are mostly of the Joluo tribal group; their welcoming smiles and laughter are the things which immediately endeared them to me when I first met them over 50 years ago.

* Now its 2023, and I'm posting Kenyan/African news items, memories and old photos from up to 50 years ago, as well as recent ones. And my collection of African books now tops 440 volumes, so I comment on them too !

Easy Fund Raising - to benefit Hands Around the World, if you live in UK - and at no cost to you

A pensioners C.V. !!

* I'm a retired lady living near Monmouth, in Wales. I had resigned myself a few years back to probably not returning to Africa again ... but believe that when opportunities arise ... grab them !

* I have four grown up children, three daughters and a son, and several grandchildren, and even my first great-grandson, which makes me feel positively ancient. They all think I'm eccentric, with the things I do, and strangely enough, many of my friends say the same. Can it be true ??

* As a licenced lay minister (L.L.M.) and a eucharistic minister (L.E.M.) in the Church in Wales, I occasionally take, or help at services in local churches and a nursing home for the elderly, where many of the residents have dementia.

* I have strong views on justice, poverty, and especially third world issues. My leisure time interests are my organic garden; researching village, and my UK and Canadian family history; photography; walking; and reading widely. Oh, and I don't have a TV !!

Luo Laughter - my 50 year love affair with Kenya

Luo Laughter "I speak of Africa and golden joys"

Friday, 30 December 2016